cooked

Whilst we're discussing cleaning methods, can anybody recommend a product that will kill mould in the shower?

this is a major problem in public swimming baths (the mould tends to harbour other microbes), when I worked in one we tried high pressure spraying + all sorts of toxic products without much success. Hydrochloric acid seems to be doing something to the black gunk in our bathroom but I've been applying it for months now, and although better, the bathroom floot still looks yucky. The acid also does bad things to our septic tank, preventing the desired fermentation or whatever it is from taking place.

you will need passport, freedom to marry document, proof of income /sufficient bank balance, proof of residence. (you told your embassy that you had moved to Thailand, didn't you? I think these will need to be translated into Thai if you are here on a tourist visa.

Your Thai wife needs Tabien Ban, birth certificate, proof of marriageable status, extract from the divorce register if she is divorced, death certificate of her husband if she is a widow, her passport. These documents may have to be translated into the language of your mother country so that you can get their approval....

That's just the bare bones of the story. Good luck. Why not ask at the embassy or look on their website?

total BS and totally stupid. 1 month weve monitored our spending for 10 years and with 2 kids at good school, medical, trips abroad, 2 cars and rest its not possible for less than 250,000 baht a month. Our elec bill alone is near 10,000 but we do have 8 air cons. We go out about once a month and if we go out ot eat its around 1,000 baht for 4 of us. Weve just spent 40,000 replacing 2 air/cons, 30,000 on a minor medical op for one of our children, paid 32,000 for a new set of tyres for one of our cars and 210,000 for 4 return air tickets to USA and thats in 1 month. Not a typical month but this is just total crap.

I used to live in a leaking box at end of sewer and ate shit .......... but these days thnak god I can live like a proper human being. Now if I lived with my mother in law thai style I can live fine in middle of nowhere for 10,000 baht or less a month for 4 of us. We do however choose to live a western lifestyle here while still doing a lot of thai things and that is often far more expensive than in west.

deary deary me we are getting into a state aren't we?

You are insulting a lot of people writing stuff like this and on top of that you are making yourself look like an idiot. It's ok if you feel like you need to live much better here than you would in the shit hole - is that the right word? that you came from or rather emerged from.

I won't go into the details of how I live with my wife but we do ok. You are talking about a budget that would see you very well indeed in Geneva, one of the most expensive towns in the world.

I don't hate people that claim to need huge insane sums to live (and thereby inflate their own importance in their own eyes) and don't see why you should come to Thailand with the the intention of living like a Westerner and then boasting about how much you have to spend here. Maybe if guys like you could keep the hate and venom and denial of facts out of your sermons, maybe other people could take you seriously.

oh boy what fun

She does if she later on wants to come to Switzerland without a visa or even become a Swiss citizen. If I take her back we get pension as a married couple and not, as now, as a single person. ( a bit complicated), so they want to know that the marriage is legal from day one.

Sorry I thought that this would apply to other countries also.

there were some second hand ones for sale on the home brew Thailand forum if I remember right.

sorry, maybe I wasn't being clear. The embassy will issue me a 'Marriage Application' for The Thai authorities, meaning that they have done the foot work for them and making things easier for all concerned. The other embassies don't do this?

I imagine that they do imagine that most people will be going straight back to Switzerland after their honeymoon.

Hi,

I am Swiss, also a certified idiot, but I guess that as the marriage process will be the same for everyone in Thailand, I'll tell you what I was told when I went to the Thai Consulate in Basel YESTERDAY:

The Royal Thai Embassy in Bern told me that I could do it on a tourist visa, in Basel they told me to get an non-immigrant visa 'O', single entry here in Switzerland, it would be easier for me. (well I would have taken a 60 day tourist visa anyway, I'm not sure that I can get all my act together in 30 days and I would then have to pay for two visas).

According to the printed paper that she gave me, I have, in order to get this visa, to get together:

my Passport (not about to run out).

a certificate of my being able to legally get married (in my case, that I am divorced), not older than 6 months.

a recent, original certificate of my guaranteed income or bank balance (฿40 000.- a month minimum or as you know, ฿400 000.-) The lady also advised me to have, if not ฿400 000 in my Thai bank, at least ฿200 000, as my income for the moment will be only ฿47 000.-, this will make things look better in Thailand, nothing to do with the visa. I obviously want to keep as much money in Switzerland as I can.

The addresses of two people in Switzerland that could give references (not family, I suggested my insurance broker + my bank manager).

I should then get my 'O' visa and won't have to present these documents in Thailand. (or forget to take them with me).

My Thai wife to be, who is here in Switzerland at the moment should present to the Swiss embassy in Thailand, before we marry:

Tabien Ban

Birth certificate (seriously: we just found out that she was 6 years younger than she thought ... how's that for a wedding present?...)

A certificate as to her situation (divorced, widowed etc)

An extract from her family register

An extract from the divorce register (if she is divorced)

Thai passport

Evidence of any change of name

The fact that she doesn't have a birth certificate doesn't seem to be a problem at the moment, we need to get one before we marry though.

These documents must be originals or certified by an official as being correct if they are copies.

I must then get the Thai documents translated into German by an officially recognised translator, they gave me a list.

The first thing that I should do in Bangkok is to announce my presence at the Swiss embassy as a new resident of Thailand. On the grounds that I already had to present the above documents in Switzerland, they can then give me a 'Marriage Application' which must also be translated into Thai, as long as my wife also has the correct documents mentioned above. I then get married and go to the immigration offices for a visa extension. I then go back to the Swiss embassy with two official extracts from the marriage register (not the marriage certificate). My marriage will then be officially registered in Switzerland making any future visits to Switzerland much easier for her., certain questions concerning my state pension will be clarified.

I have to pay money.

I imagine that this is more or less applicable to your case also.

I have the German document that I have just quoted from in Thai if anybody is interested.

and here is tutsi, desperately needing the toilet and then here is a niece on the throne with a smile and 'kee' and then tutsi dumps his load on the bathroom floor as there is an incontinence problem...

and then the wife comes and scolds the niece and has her assist to clean up tutsi's mess as punishment is in order...

we got 3 toilets in the house but everyone wantsta use tutsi's toilet...little savages...

Well thanks for sharing that magic moment with us, I really wanted to know about your incontinence, feel better now.

What a yawn. Go and hug a tree.

yes really boring. What we are doing is stacking up a huge bill that is going to have to be paid by future generations. Coming up soon, in your neighbourhood: no more trees, no more fish, and, hopefully, no more humans (or Aussies). I agree, who cares anyway.

ah good, I thought that I was wrong in wanting to use the word transliteration.

I am still at the beginning as far as learning Thai is concerned, but I quickly found out that it is certainly worthwhile learning the Thai alphabet at the same time. I sometimes find myself puzzled by transcriptions, occasionally having to go back to the original Thai to work out what word it was supposed to be (not an easy process for me, but I never thought it would be). The official 'government' transcription system seems to have been designed by a well meaning orang utan.

I picked up an excellent second hand book the other day which had another transcription system - this however just confused me further.

It's made from milk powder

except for the stuff that comes directly from the cow. Doesn't change what I said above, though, milk powder should be tasty

In Switzerland, what I would call 'sour milk' comes from cows that have been fed on silo feed, not getting out to the prairies at all. The Swiss (at least the older ones) avoid this 'milk' by buying more expensive 'bio-milk'. I know the taste but am not too aware of the chemical processes involved, but silo feed is the result of fermenting maize and such like over winter in large hoppers instead of mowing hay and storing it.

I haven't seen any hay makers lately.

I will be buying a cow soon.

I agree with what you say, Wana, but maybe those things aren't important to some people? I get too much pussy as it is, and I plan to start a drummers' group in the village, that's enough active culture for me (I never went much for 'passive culture' - paying money and being entertained).

I like to read your posts, but I hate to see questions about Thailand being answered as though everyone lives in Bangkok / Pattaya, especially so as it would appear that these people have never been further up cuntry than Ayuthaya.

A tramp lives on more than 23k per month... 50k needed to have a nice life here and i also agree about the car insurance... That insurance you have now is worthless if you have a major accident

Maybe 50k if you live in the sticks, not somewhere real. That would be impossible.

Again and again... we are talking about Thailand, the real Thailand, and not about unreal places like Bangkok and Pattaya. Out in the sticks you have a respectable, respected life style with real people around you, ar**** oles included.

ok guys I am closing this thread because intelligent questions have been posed.

In the future, only threads where long quotes followed by one line responses insulting other members are cropping up (otherwise known as intelligent discussions being taken over by idiots and going to the dogs) will be allowed to go on for ever and ever, greatly increasing the good reputation of this forum.

...forget using pepper spray against 10 guys, the others will be both amused by the reaction of the spayed guys and indignant that you dared to attack their cosy band of brother. Were these guys drunk/otherwise stoned?

I am glad that you are ok, you reacted as well as you could.

I posted on this thread before about how weird I find it that people don't answer when you wish them a good morning (it means something like ' I hope you have a good day, I feel fine') as well as avoiding eye contact. I will be leaving for good a small village in Switzerland for good soon and I'm sure that I will miss the greetings I get when I walk up to the shop or post office, or as I drive down to the valley. It's normal to say good day, to people that you know so that you at least acknowledge their existence, to people that you don't know to people that you don't know because you are curious.

Not the same thing for you big city slickers of course, you can't say hello to everyone on Sukhumvit.

Up in the mountains, not stopping to say hello and discussing your planned route can be a matter of life and death. Not having seen anyone for a few hours and then getting someone avoiding eye contact as you cross paths is weird, these are city guys and also not Swiss I guess.

I think this is not a 'Farang thing' it is a 'grown up in a big town thing', that or being English.

I don't mind being taken for an idiot by a would-be conman, I find it funny and let them know. Where's the problem?

we will want to know ALL the details...

Well, firstly I would not be dating a prostitute past or present in the west.

How would you know?

They don't all have tattoos with 'hooker' written on them and some former sex workers may lie about their past.

Man:- "Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the communist party prostitute"

Woman:- "No"

Man:- "Great let's get married then"

sorry, definitely not your best cynical post Tommo

ask her what it's about, is that out of the question? Put her in a slightly uncomfortable situation like the one you are in now. Otherwise you will be stuttering and goggling at their tits all night and nothing will happen.

well I'll be buggered. On second thoughts, maybe not.